Do Heroes Dream of Spandex Sheep?
by The Magician Joseph
Summary: A two or three chapter story investigating the dreams, and subconcious of all the different Titans. A crossover with Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics. Raven meets Morpheus.


Do Heroes Dream of Spandex Sheep?

By Joseph Rodgers

"_Dreams are omission, they fall deliberately."_

-Rozz Williams.

Night casts her arms around Jump City, the sunlight dies falling over the horizon, and Sister Moon rises pregnant in the sky. From the roof of a tower a mile and a half from the shore of Jump City two teens look at the luminous orb.

It is summer time, and the air is clean, Beast Boy inhales deeply as if taking in some strange drug. He smiles broadly his features following the contour of his warm grin.

Raven looks at him and pushes down a smile herself, it is really a beautiful night out. They stare at the sky saying nothing, but appraising the stars with a reverential gaze.

Four stories down Cyborg prepares himself for sleep, his places his heavy body down, spent shell, and plugs himself into his charger. He feels fettered down by this routine, he feels less than human.

"You know if I could make a change, I'd love to pull the wires from the walls." He says to no one in particular. The overhead lights dim, but the lights of the computers never dim. The tiny red and green dots always flash, or flicker, but never fade.

Cyborg goes through the process of meticulously running a system check on all of his electronic body parts. After finding everything satisfactory he shuts down, and runs on minimum power, just enough to keep his lungs breathing, and his heart pumping.

He closes his human eye, and wonders before drifting off to sleep; 'What was it they said about electronic sheep?'

And he dreams, and he dreams.

The field of his dreamscape is barren, a single brown hill juts into the sky like a tumor. Compelled by forces he can't explain he walks forward. His march is slow and painful, and all around his feet are discarded computer parts, and bones.

He steps delicately around a discarded circuit board, an old hard-drive, and a human skull. And then he continues his laborious trek to and up the hill. Vultures with human eyes and metal beaks circle around purple clouds in a red sky, and they watch Victor from above.

He looks up at them and they seem to whisper his name, to invite him to lay down. They assure him that they are perfectly happy picking both flesh and metal from his being.

And Cyborg dreams, and continues to dream.

Elsewhere in the tower Robin prepares for bed, he bids Starfire goodnight, giving her a passionate yet restrained kiss on the lips. And then he walks to his room.

Inside his room Robin steps into his bathroom, picks up his red toothbrush. He examines the bristles for debris, happy to find none he squeezes a glob of mint flavored tooth paste out of its tube. And then he brushes his teeth, he counts each brush stroke until reaching twenty four, and then he changes the position of the toothbrush.

After all necessities are taken care of he removes his mask, washes his face and then walks back to his bedroom. He strips down and then crawls into the bed.

Soon enough he finds himself drifting away into the realm of dreams. Sleep is like god, and god is like a bullet. From the moment of impact on his eyes are shut.

When Robin dreams.

He dreams of the circus, the bright lights, the joy. His parents are there, but he cannot find them. He looks in vain, searching past the lion tamer, past the Siamese twins. The Siamese twins, Janna, and Chartreuse are kissing each other on the lips.

And then in the distance he sees a familiar figure, a tall man. The gold and black of his mask stands out to Robin even in the colors of gaiety that pulse like a living thing. He pursues Slade, and Slade runs. The chase is hallucinogenic, the world distorts around them showing Slade ahead of Robin as if in a tunnel.

Upon astral feet that never weary Robin finds his pursuit ending at a door. Slade has disappeared, and all that remains is a bronze door. With much trepidation he places his hand out and touches the door handle.

And Robin continues to dream.

Starfire lies upside down in her bed, her heart beats a steady yet accelerated tempo in her breast. Her mind races with thoughts of Robin, of her infatuation with him. Her alien spirits lift when she thinks of the joys that tomorrow will bring with her wonderful team, and it takes everything she has not to fly from her bed in joy.

She grabs the gelatinous body of Silky and holds it close, softly from her lips she utters a Tameranean lullaby to Silky. Silky emits a low purring sound from his throat as Starfire sings to him. Silky's small brain cannot possibly comprehend what she is singing about, he doesn't know that she is singing of sun light, and communion with friends. Yet ignorant to the words of the peaceful melody, Silky still feels content and drifts off to a dreamless sleep. Starfire soon follows Silky's lead and is off to sleep, unlike her pet, Starfire does dream.

Her dreams are a pastel array of beautiful colors, it takes a few minutes for coherent shapes and symbols to form from the ether. Rising forth from the intangible plane of colors is a field of flowers, flowers both Earthly and Tameranean. Starfire fills her nostrils with fragrances that only her senses could care for, smells that remind her of perfumes she wore as a child, and of her mother's cooking.

By the horizon Starfire can see a waterfall, it gurgles hypnotically so that she can hear it even in the distance. The waterfall empties itself into a small pool and Starfire begins to fly to it promptly.

As she is flying she looks behind her to notice the landscape changing to that of a forest, she pays no attention to it, but instead continues flying her focus purely on the waterfall.

As she gets close to the waterfall she sees a form bathing in it, with her fantastic eye sight she sees that it Robin. Concealed from the waist down by the pool of water, and still wearing his mask he beckons for her to come closer.

She does so.

And she continues to dream.

On the roof of the tower Raven and Beast Boy are still in each other's company, they no longer have their gazes fixed upon the heavens, but on each other's eyes. In the delicate irises that surround their pupils they find more beauty than they could ever find in the sky. Only as lovers could be senseless enough to do.

And then it is over, "I believe that I am going to try and go to sleep." Raven says.

Beast Boy wants to object, he wants to take her in his arms and kiss her like he has never kissed anyone before. Yet he is afraid of angering her, of committing some vile act against her dignity. And thus conscience does make a coward of him, just like sweet Prince Hamlet.

"Sweet dreams Raven." He says standing up. She stands up also, Beast Boy hopes that she will turn around and hug him, but does no such thing as she begins to walk off of the roof.

"Sweet dreams to you to Gar." She says, and then opens the door to the stairs. Beast Boy follows her and they each head back to their own rooms, respectively.

Beast Boy does not bother brushing his teeth; slightly frustrated at his cowardice he lies alone in bed. He wonders if he will always have to be in bed alone.

Soon enough Beast Boy drifts off to sleep and into the dream world.

Beast Boy does not even recognize that he is sleeping, he sees the sheets of his bed around him and assumes he hasn't drifted off yet. And then he notices that the sheets he sees around him are lush and purple, part of himself.

With eyes that he is not conscience of, he gazes to the corner of the room, there is a door there. The door opens up and Raven steps through the portal.

She doesn't notice Beast Boy, for in fact, in Beast Boy's dream he and Raven's bed are one and the same.

She walks to the center of the room, a light with no explainable source shines down on her from above. She begins to strip down, first taking off her cloak. Then she removes her boots, and socks. And then she removes her leotard (for lack of a better word).

Standing illuminated, Raven is naked before the bed Beast Boy. And Beast Boy beckons to her, his soft warm sheets waiting to envelop her.

And Beast Boy continues to dream.

Raven walks into her room, she steps into her bathroom and strips completely. She takes a shower, and then steps out. She wipes the mirror clean with a towel and stares at her reflection in it. She doesn't like what she sees, but she tries to find one good thing about herself to look at.

She stares intently, quickly dismissing her hair, her breast, her eyes, and her lips, telling herself that none of those things are evenly vaguely attractive. She looks frustrated into the medicine cabinet, and then it hits her! Her shoulders are wonderful, her shoulders in white softness like wings of a dove.

Content that she could find one good thing about herself, she brushes her teeth and then crawls into the purple sheets of her bed. Is it just her or does the rustling of her sheets sound like muffled sighs?

She closes her eyes, and soon she too is dreaming like the rest of the Titans.


End file.
